Justice Minister Backs One-Tent Limit for Rossio Housing Protest

Portugal’s Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcão Júdice, said on Wednesday that there have been “excesses on both sides” in the housing protests in Lisbon. She sided with the Ministry of Internal Administration (Ministério da Administração Interna, or MAI, Portugal’s interior ministry) on allowing only one tent at the protest site in Rossio, according to the Portuguese news outlet ECO.

The minister also said a recent administrative court ruling on the right to camp during the protests applies only to the activist who brought the case. Protesters and their lawyers have argued that it reaches further.

The court ruling on camping in Rossio

The dispute centers on a ruling from an administrative court (tribunal administrativo) in a court petition (intimação) brought by activist Renata Cambra. The MAI, led by minister Luís Neves, has said the decision covers only her. Cambra and her legal team say otherwise, ECO reported.

Alarcão Júdice told parliament that, in strictly legal terms, lawyers would agree the ruling affects only the person named in it. She said she had read the decision herself and that it did not recognize a general right to occupy the square. According to the minister, the court rejected permanent and unrestricted occupation of the space and set out a series of measures meant to balance the rights involved, which she said must be respected.

She added that good sense is still needed in how the ruling is read and applied. Citing respect for the rule of law and for court decisions, she defended public security and order.

A budget hearing turns to the protests

The exchange took place during a parliamentary hearing on the detailed debate of the next State Budget (Orçamento do Estado). Paulo Muacho, a deputy for the Livre party, asked what the Ministry of Justice had done to make sure the whole government and the state respect citizens’ fundamental rights. He also criticized how the MAI had reacted to the court decision.

In her reply, the minister said those protesting had at times lacked balance. She asked for restraint so that Portugal avoids situations that, in her words, no Portuguese person identifies with, and she described that as the government’s first concern on the issue.

Muacho said he agreed with her reading on good sense and asked her to pass the same view to her colleague at Internal Administration. Fabian Figueiredo of the Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) praised what he called the “intellectual seriousness” of her answer. He said fundamental rights cannot apply to one named person only, and that the MAI’s interpretation would fail a first-year law exam.

Source: ECO